I'm three weeks into my training, and I'm already changing my plan, let me explain.

When researching marathon training plans, there's one thing that seems to be a clear indicator of predicted performance: weekly mileage.

Looking through my current program—Jack Daniel's 2Q—I was planning to run consistent 40-mile weeks. It seemed like a lot at first, but when referencing other training plans, studying other runners, and reflecting on my own experience, it's clear that to confidently run sub-3 hours is going to take a little more training than that.

In addition, the plan doesn't have weekly long runs, rather emphasizing marathon pace training in longer workouts. But these only go up to 10-13 miles, peaking at 17 miles.

That’s not enough if you're going to run 26.2 in a few months.

In my previous training, I ran up to 22 miles (albeit at an easy pace), building a solid aerobic base.

The program itself is definitely well thought out, but hearing from runners who have used it (and who had convinced me to use it), they clearly do long runs to complement it.

So, here are the 5 changes I'm making:

1. Weekly long runs: Increase from 13-15 miles to 20-22 at peak

2. Gradual mileage increase: Build from 40 miles up to 60, peaking at 70-80 miles per week. (for reference, I’m already at 40).

3. Reduce strength training: Scale back to post-workout exercises to allow more running and recovery

4. Incorporate fast finish long runs: Add these to runs over 1.5/2 hours

5. New workouts to include:

Today, we had a 2 hour long run.

Last 3 weeks: ~40 miles consistently, with a 35 mile (faster) week this week..

This week’s goal: 45 miles.

Vamos!